El Salvador – The movie theater

Because I hadn’t been to a movie theater in El Salvador, that’s why… and so we went although Carlos tried to convince me it was exactly the same as the theaters in the U.S., I knew that it wouldn’t be. It’s never exactly the same in El Salvador. Never. Ever.

Besides, our friends were on August break with nothing to do and we could take them with us. Because of the cost, they rarely go to the movie theater, so it was special to them.

First we had to decide which movie to see. I was very insistent that we see Harry Potter. We had already seen it in the United States and I thought that since the boys had seen it in English, it would be good for them to see it in Spanish. Carlos wasn’t crazy about seeing it again, and our friends hadn’t seen a single Harry Potter movie, so they would have been lost.

“He’s so cute, isn’t he?” Carlos’s friend’s wife said to me in Spanish, sighing at a movie poster for Captain America.

I crinkled my nose. “Eh, I don’t really like blonds,” I said.
“I think he’s so handsome,” she said, “I’d love to see that movie.”

That’s when I noticed our friend’s teenage son was wearing a Captain America hat. Clearly they knew which movie they wanted to see.

“Okay,” I sighed in defeat, “We’ll see Captain America.”

We went through the line and when we finally reached the cashier we had to decide whether we wanted to see the movie dubbed or with subtitles, (we chose dubbed.) Then before we could pay for our tickets we were told to pick our seats.

Huh? Pick our seats? Yeah, we’ll do that when we get in there with our popcorn and stuff.

No, you have to pick your seats now.

Huh?

Our friend’s teenage son showed us the computer screen right there in front of us, where we had to pick our seats as if we were going on an airplane.

Picking our seats at the movie theater.

Assigned seats at the movie theater! “I told you it would be different!” I said to Carlos with glee.

The concession stand had all the usual items you’d expect but also some odd things, like chocolate cake. The ticket and concession prices were outrageous by Salvadoran standards, (just like in the United States), but comfortable for us.

The boys, ready to see their first movie in El Salvador.

Unlike the concession stands in the United States which leave you to juggle all your snacks on your own, in El Salvador they give you a very handy tray.

Carlos carries the popcorn and “Coca.”

We found our seats and were shocked at what a beautiful, modern theater it was. These seats were hands down the most comfortable seats I had ever sat in at a movie theater. The cushions were thick and the seats reclined. The theater itself seemed brand new and really clean… Keep in mind, this theater is at Metrocentro, the “poor people mall” as I heard it called.

Waiting for the movie to begin.

While we were sitting there waiting for the movie to begin, a young guy came up the aisle stairs and called out to his friend before going to the concession stand. “Qué quieres? Soda? Dulces?… Paloma?”

The guy started laughing and I did, too, although the joke was rather inappropriate to make with kids around. Luckily my kids didn’t get it. (In El Salvador, “Paloma” is slang for “penis” … and “Palomitas de maiz” means popcorn, of course. So, what he said was “What do you want? Soda? Candy?… penis/popcorn.”)

The movie, (“Capitán América”) – actually turned out to be pretty good. The audience in El Salvador tends to be more vocal than audiences in the United States. An onscreen kiss or a pretty woman entering a scene elicited a lot of appreciative hisses from the men. (In American culture, a “hiss” is considered a sound of disapproval but Salvadorans have hisses of approval, don’t ask me how, they just do.)

Then after the movie, our friends found it peculiar that we carried our own trash out to the trashcans, (nobody else did.)

All in all, a fun experience, and the best part was that the boys understood everything that happened with no need for translation.

You should definitely go! The theaters in mexico to which I have been are very distinto depending the city and even the region. I have been in some with leather recliners and waitresses bringing drinks, and others (nearer TX) with folding chairs, bootlegged-shaky films, and tepache. Which is kinda way more fun.

:) your experiences in El Salvador sound fun! I went to a movie theater back in the day in san miguel all they had was plain popcorn in little tiny paper bags and “gaseosa”(lol). We didn’t get to choose seats and my cousin was hesitant about sitting in the front because we would get urine thrown on us :s This was in the mid 90’s!!

What a great idea, Tracy! I’ve been to El Salvador so many times — my mother-in-law lives there — and I have yet to go to the movies there. I know she has seen an “Inconvenient Truth,” for example, and other well-known movies in Spanish there. I will have to suggest we go together next time we’re there. :)

[…] Insider Tip: this would be a great companion piece to our Vamos al Cine activity this week.) [latinaish]- Delightful travel video taken by Zenoyu, from Hong Kong, while backpacking in South America. […]

[…] begged me to watch a cartoon called Teen Titans Go! with him. Honestly, I’m not at all into super hero stuff so this show didn’t appeal to me at all, but he promised me this particular episode had […]

All content is protected under federal U.S. Copyright law. Content is not to be reproduced, copied or re-posted in any way without prior written consent.

Images used here that do not belong to Latinaish.com and appearing without attribution are carefully selected copyright free images released under Creative Commons via Pixabay. If your photo has been uploaded to Pixabay without your consent and you wish to have it removed from Latinaish.com, please contact us.